Need Assistance with new system

[smontag]

I currently have an Onkyo TX-SR500 powering Bose Accustamass 10 speakers. I am looking to upgrade my system to acheive better sound in listening to music and watching DVD's in surround. I am limited to bookshelf speakers as my wife refuses to allow me floor speakers.

I am intrigued with Yamaha RX-V2500 and Mirage Omnipolar Nanostat speakers. What I like about about the Yamaha is I have heard with the 7.1 system is you can run A & B speakers with different sources.

My living room is 16 X 20

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[av-man]

we need to know your budget. Theater equipment prices vary greatly.

 

[smontag]

Figure Yamaha costs around $1,000 + tax and the Mirage speakers are about $900 + tax. I would like to stay in a price range for the system under @2500 as I also need to get a new DVD/CD player as well. I can get the Yamaha for $799 from the Navy Exchange but I am not sure if they are an authorized dealer of Yamaha so I don't know if the warranty is valid.

 

[Takeereasy]

It seems like you are set on sticking with small speakers. I've never heard the nanosats, but they do get great reviews. Can you audition them yourself or is this going to be a buy it sight unseen situation?

I'd like to suggest a thriftier suggestion if you must have cubes. How about an HSU research Ventriloquist system and an STF-2 for $559 free shipping and a sub cable included. This setup should have no trouble kicking the crap out of your old Bose setup.

The 2500 is a great receiver, but it may be overkill for your situation. This is just my .02 but maybe you'd be better off with a 1500. The 1500 has most, but not all, of the features of the 2500, including A/B speakers, but is a little cheaper. (OK Yammie fans, let me have it). Also have you considered trying to pick up a Marantz 8400 on closeout somewhere. I bought mine on Ubid.com for either $451 or $461, I don't remember, but maybe some more will pop up and this is a steal and the warranty is included.

If you spend the $559 on a speaker package instead of $900 you can get the DVD player now. The Yamaha 750 seems really nice.

I just have a couple of questions for you.

1. You do know that when a receiver runs A/B speakers that this doesn't mean it can run two sets of 7.1 or 5.1 speakers right? What this refers to is powering a second pair of speakers. There are receivers that can handle 2 or more sets of surround sound speakers, for example the Denon 5805, all you need to do is shell out $5000 to get this monster and then you can have a HT setup in a couple of rooms.

2. If you can't have nice floorstanders (I've been cut off by the interior fashion police as well) then can you have slightly larger bookshelves? Generally speaking the lager the enclosure of the speaker you can use the more options you will have. For example could you get something like this?
If you can then switching out those dipole rears for another pair of atoms will make this system under $800. Paradigm also make a cinema 90 Home theater setup that's a little smaller than these atoms that retails for $700 including the 10" sub. If the wife will let you I'd suggest going with the Atoms, if it must be cubed then the HSU setup will save you a bundle and be a marked improvement over the current Bse setup. That plus the with the HSU setup is killer for the size and price.

Hope this helps, I just want you to see some more of the options. Good luck with it all.

 

[Xsound]

The 2500 is a great receiver, check with Yamaha and see if they will honor the warranty if you buy it at the exchange. I really don't have much experience with the mirage speakers. I seriously considered the 2500, and would have been very happy with it. However I went a pioneer elite receiver, and it is awesome.

At Elegantaudiovideo.com you could get a pioneer elite vsx-56txi, a pioneer elite dv-47ai DVD player, a pair of monitor audio gold reference 10 bookshelf speakers (beautiful rosewood finish) for $2673 not including shipping. If you are buying all 3 pieces from them, they may cut you a break.

The vsx-56 has firewire/i-link as does the 47ai dvd player. This would give you one cable hookup for SACD and DVD-a playback (instead of running 6 cables).

If I had $2500 and wanted to be done with the whole thing here is what I would do (Your Mileage May Vary!)
Pioneer Elite vsx-54tx $634 at elegantaudiovideo.com
axiom m22, vp150, qs8 =$1325 (believe you would get a slight discount for buying
all at once)
SVS pb10-isd $429 at svsubwoofers.com
Toshiba sd4960 $89 at vanns.com
Total $2477 not including shipping, or cables.

This would be an incredible system.
The m22s are tall bookshelf speakers (19") so make sure they fit. If your wife requires a speaker with a higher end appearance, you can get the axioms in real wood veneers for extra. If the m22's are too large, and elegant appearance is important, try av123.com and look at the elt home theater. You can get 5.1 (including sub) for $900. You can get a better sub, but the speakers are nice and look good.
If the m22s are too big and elegant appearance is not an issue, check out ascendacoustics.com. You can get 4 cbm bookshelfs, 1 cmt 340 center, an Hsu vtf2 sub, for roughly $1400 including shipping.

The last 2 sets of speakers, the elt, and the ascends, may sound better with the yamaha than the pioneer elite due to the use of soft dome tweeters. The axioms use a metal tweeter, so the pioneer may help to mellow, warm, or sweeten the sound.

HOpe that I have helped, and not mucked things up by presenting so many different options. At $2500 you can actually get a pretty good complete system, if you are impatient.